Proud of the House We Built
by laurzz
Summary: DannyLindsayLucy. Just a little fluffy piece to pass the killer last stretch of the hiatus. "So, here's to another sixty years, okay? You and me, growin' old together - how does that sound?" "It sounds perfect."


**A/N: So this is another little oneshot that I've had sitting around for well over a year now. You can all thank afrozenheart for my posting this... she gave me a little nudge to post something else that I had squirrelled away. And Meggie has been nudging for me to post fluff since forever, so here you go; two oneshots in about as many days... Now, this one wasn't at all what the finished piece now is; but time has kind of developed the foundations and voila, it is now what it is. I hope you guys like it. **

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><p><strong>Proud of the House We Built, Brooks and Dunn.<strong>

_We were barely gettin' by, takin' care of each other; then I became a daddy; you became a mother. Was an uphill battle nearly every day, but lookin' back I wouldn't have it any other way._

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><p>Sitting on her front porch, Lindsay Messer smiled happily as the warm summer rays soaked into her skin. It wasn't often she got to enjoy the sun. Yes, she got to <em>see<em> the sun; but collecting evidence around a decomposing body that'd been left on the street for a few hours in the blazing New York heat didn't exactly float her boat. So, with her day off she had decided to make the most of the outdoors.

Even if Danny wasn't there to enjoy it with her.

She sighed heavily. While she absolutely loved her job, she hated the fact that it effectively took her life away. A part of her resented the fact that Danny had to work today of all days; they'd given up so much over the years it seemed unfair that they had to miss_ another_ wedding anniversary together. They'd celebrated their first wedding anniversary with him in confined to a wheelchair, their second; she'd been called into work. Their third, he'd been in the midst of acting as Sergeant and had lost track of time, leaving her sat in the restaurant he'd made reservations at for nearly two hours before he came running through the doors as she was leaving. Their fourth anniversary they'd forgotten about completely until Mac had asked them what they had planned to celebrate. Their fifth had been celebrated for five minutes in the break room before they ran back what they'd been stuck in the middle of at work. And their sixth, well... she was celebrating with her daughter, while he was at work. _How romantic, _she mused to herself.

If she was honest, she'd grown used to celebrating things weeks later; sometimes even months later. And that made her sad. She shouldn't have to grow accustomed to celebrating big milestones in her life weeks later. But, as much as it sucked and as much as she hated it, such as was their life.

She glanced to her daughter who was happily practicing her handstands in their front yard and Lindsay couldn't help but laugh. "You're going to have a rush of blood to the head if you carry on like that," Lindsay told her little girl. "Can you sit for a few minutes so you don't get dizzy?"

"But Mommy, I'll forget how to do them if I stop now!"

"You won't." Lindsay promised her five-year-old with a chuckle. "It's like riding a bike, once you learn you never forget."

"Promise?" Lucy said with her hands ready to flip up into another handstand.

"I pinky promise." Lindsay said as she held her hands and feet so that Lucy could see that nothing was crossed.

Lucy sighed for a moment before plopping herself down onto the grass and reaching for her dolly that sat not far from her. "Mommy." Her tone inquired with a sigh.

"Lucy?" Lindsay mimicked her daughter's sigh.

"When can I get my DS back?"

Lindsay rolled her eyes; cursing the day that Danny had brought home the handheld console for their daughter. "We've already been over this."

"But Mommy!" Lucy whined. "Please, pretty please!"

"Not today," Lindsay informed her daughter; to which she was answered with a large groan. "Hey, hey, none of that. I made it clear earlier that you could play on it for an hour. It's not my fault you decided to take that hour all in one. You can get it back tomorrow and maybe you'll play with it a little less."

"Well can I go watch TV?"

"Nope." Lindsay shook her head. "How about you go and get your bike out, Lu."

"Don't wanna." Lucy scoffed, turning her back to her mother.

Lindsay sighed as she stretched out; _the perils of raising a child in this day and age._ Had she been given the opportunity to go out and ride her bike when she was Lucy's age she would have gone without a second's thought – so how and why was it that her daughter was fighting to get inside on such a gorgeous afternoon?

Sighing and looking away from her daughter with a heavy heart, Lindsay blinked as she saw their SUV head down their lane. She blinked again, trying to see whether it was in fact _their_ SUV. She shook her head and turned back down to look at Lucy who happened to be on her feet and jumping up and down in excitement. As Danny pulled their truck into the driveway, Lucy shot off and tackled her father as he jumped out of the vehicle. Catching his daughter, he snuggled her close and blew a raspberry to her cheek, gaining a shriek and giggle.

"You got home early today!" She informed her father. "You weren't supposed to even be here to tuck me in! Mommy said so!"

"Mommy's right, I wasn't supposed to be home." Danny replied. "But I told the bad guys that Lucy's Daddy was fed up with them being so bad so I put them all in time out and told them not to move."

"Did you make sure they couldn't move the chair with them? 'Cause I bet they could pick the chair up, Daddy. Did you make sure?"

"They're not as smart as you," Danny smirked at the memory of Lucy dragging her chair across their living room floor one time when she'd been put in time out. Both Lindsay and Danny had given her points for originality and had shared a giggle together after she was out of their line of sight.

"So when are you going to go and let them out of time out?" Lucy pressed. "When they stop being bad?"

"Exactly." Danny nodded. "I decided that I wanted to be at home with you and Mommy, because I missed you guys."

Lucy smile brightly and cupped Danny's cheeks with her little hands before placing a kiss to his nose. "Put me downed now, Daddy. I wanna play."

Danny sighed as he placed Lucy on the floor, letting her run back to her lawn toys.

He watched his daughter for a minute before he turned his focus onto his wife who was sat on their front porch. He leant into the SUV and reached over to the passenger seat, giving Lindsay the chance to appreciate his ass as he did so. He quickly backtracked and shoved his door shut on the SUV and locked it before crossing their lawn, a beautiful bouquet of flowers in his hand, accompanied by a proud smile as he did so. He took a seat next to her and pressed a kiss to her temple as his arm stretched around her shoulders with his free hand, offering her the flowers with his other hand. "Happy anniversary, baby."

"Danny," She whispered. "These are so beautiful."

"Only the best for my girl," he smiled as he pressed a kiss to her cheek as she smelt the wide array of colourful flowers in the bouquet. "I had the girls in the florist fawning all over me when I picked them up. I'm told you're a lucky woman?" He feigned innocence, but his smirk sold him out. "I don't know what they're talkin' about."

"Oh yeah? You're so full of it." She shook her head. "How did you get out of work early?" She smiled up at her husband.

"I pulled some strings, called in a few favours and got the night off." He said as he shuffled closer to her. "I wasn't going to miss another anniversary."

"Danny..."

"No," he growled at her as she reached up so that she could lace her fingers through his while keeping his arm draped over her shoulders. "I'm sick and tired of having to miss our day for some murderin' scu-"

"Remember who our audience is."

"Shmoopoohead."

Lindsay snorted. "That's a new one."

"You like that?" Danny laughed. "I'll tell you what, you can learn a lot from a five year old."

"Apparently." Lindsay giggled. "I can't believe you're home though, Danny. I'm so happy to see you, I didn't expect to see you this side of today." She laid her head on his shoulder and snuggled into his side. "Whatever you did to get off work; thank you."

"What you thankin' me for? I should be here, it's our special day. Did you see my card I left you?"

Lindsay smiled as pulled his hand towards her and pressed a kiss to his wedding ring. "I did, I couldn't miss it. It was such a beautiful card. And that was enough. You didn't have to get me these, Danny. They're gorgeous, thank you."

"Are you kidding me?" He implored as he pressed a kiss to her temple. "You didn't have to get me this, Linds." He gestured to the watch on his wrist. "I know I've been talkin' about gettin' a new one, but this was too much."

"I wanted to surprise you." She smiled shyly.

"Well, I was definitely surprised." Danny chuckled. "I showed everyone today. I think they're a little sick of me."

"They're just jealous." Lindsay giggled. "I'm glad you like it. I wasn't sure whether you'd find it."

"I found it just fine."

"I'm sorry I couldn't give it to you when you left this morning." She frowned. "I wanted this morning to be special; I didn't anticipate you leaving at the time you did. You must be exhausted."

"Nah, I'm good." He shook his head. "It's not as if I haven't done twelve hour shifts before, huh?"

"Yeah, but you're not the spring chicken you were six years ago."

"Hey! Don't be tellin' people that, Linds."

"They already know you're old and decrepit. They're just humouring you," she winked.

"Wiseass." He laughed and squeezed her hand lightly. They sat in silence for a moment, Lindsay's head on Danny's shoulder as they contently watched their daughter play.

"I'm proud ya'know," Danny finally said quietly after a minute or so.

"Of who, Lucy?"

"No, us."

Lindsay turned her head slightly, "Us?"

"I'm proud of what we've achieved and how far we've come; the life that we've built together."

Lindsay smiled and pressed a kiss to his jaw. "Me too."

"And I love you, you know that right?"

Lindsay pulled a face in response. "Of course I know."

"I know, but I mean... I love you probably more than you'd ever know."

"Oh I think the date is going to someone's brain." She blushed. "I know you love me, silly."

"Tease me all you want," he said as he pinched her side lightly, making her squirm and giggle. "But I do love you; and today of all days, I feel I should tell you how much you mean to me. God knows I don't do it enough."

"You don't have to constantly tell me you love me, Danny. I know you do."

"Yeah well, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt if I was a little more vocal about it."

Lindsay shrugged. "You _show_ me that you love me every day and actions speak louder than words." She settled her head on his shoulder, pressing a kiss to his neck. Her silence gave him a few moments to process her words.

"You know what amazes me?" He began. "Around the time that Luce came along, it seemed like it was just a constant uphill battle between us two, but you know now? I wouldn't have wanted to do it any other way. Just seein' you in the morning, every morning after everything that we've been through makes it all worthwhile, you know? To know that we weathered that massive storm together makes this mean so much more." He said, pressing a kiss to Lindsay's wedding band.

"You're such a sap," she smiled brightly as she ran her thumb over his hand. "But you're also my sap, so I guess that makes it okay."

"You make fun now, but you'll regret it in the future when I'm made of stone because my sentimental advances were shot down time and time again."

"That's a lie," Lindsay looked up at him adoringly through her eyelashes. "You love me too much to switch off your sentimental advances," she nudged him playfully. She fell silent once again before she linked her fingertips through his. "A lot of things have been there to test us."

"They sure have," he whispered. "And look at us today, huh? Who would'a thought me and you would be celebrating our sixth anniversary?"

Lindsay smiled as she snuggled into her husband's side. "We did good, didn't we? You, me and Lucy."

"There was never any doubt that we wouldn't do good." Danny smiled at her. "Not in my mind at least."

"Hey Daddy?"

Both parents glanced towards their daughter, whom had taken it upon herself to give her parents a few minutes of quiet while they spoke to one another on their 'special day'.

"What's up, kiddo?"

"Can I get it now?"

"Get what?" Lindsay questioned.

Ignoring her mother, Lucy's eyes locked on her father's and Danny simply nodded. Without a second's hesitation, Lucy was scrambling to her feet and running to the open garage as fast as her little legs could carry her.

"Danny, what's going on?"

"Just a little somethin' Luce and I have been working on." Danny smirked. "You got it kiddo?" he called out to his daughter. "Need some help?"

"No, I'm good!" she cried, running around the corner again, her arms full with a box. She came screeching to a halt a few yards away from her parents.

"What's that?" Lindsay blinked as Lucy approached them at a much slower pace.

Danny took a deep breath as he warranted a glance in his daughter's direction. "About a month ago Lucy and I sat down and we had a big think, didn't we Lu?"

"We did." She nodded proudly. "Daddy wanted to do something special for when you... your-" she glanced to her father for help. "Anni-"

"Anniversary," Danny chuckled. "She's struggled with that every time, haven't ya, kiddo?"

"Yup," Lucy sighed before her exuberance took over once again. "Open it Mommy! Open it!"

"Danny," she blinked at her husband. "I didn't... I thought..."

"You thought all I'd gotten you was flowers? That's a rookie mistake, Montana. Should'a known me and Lucy better." He winked as he took the box from Lucy and place it on Lindsay's lap. "Happy anniversary, baby."

Lindsay carefully untied the ribbon wrapped around the extravagant gift box and held her breath as she pulled the lid from the base. She was presented with a mountain of glitter and tissue paper and couldn't help but giggle. She glanced up at her daughter, whom was snuggled on Danny's lap; hiding her angelic little face.

"Oh Daddy, did you put all of this glitter in the box?"

"No, I did!" Lucy giggled against Danny's shirt. "It was me!"

"You did?" Lindsay gasped, winking at Danny. "I would have never guessed. Is this my present? It's very beautiful. I'll use all this glitter to decorate the living room like you did last week."

Lucy's little cheeks turned pink as she peaked at her mother's playful eyes. "That's not your present."

"It's not?" Lindsay gasped. "So where is it?"

"Underneath!" Lucy giggled.

"Oh, silly me." Lindsay rolled her eyes as she unfolded the fuchsia tissue paper. She was presented with a beautifully bounded scrapbook, bursting at the seams. "Oh Danny, Lucy, this is beautiful."

"It's a photobook, Mommy!" Lucy cried with excitement. "We made it!"

"You did? You made it for me?" Lindsay smiled brightly.

"Tell her Daddy!" Lucy squeaked.

"They're all photos that outline every year of our marriage," Danny explained as Lindsay began extracting the huge book from its box. She discarded the box on the floor and began turning the pages with utmost care. "We did a few pages of us dating; that there is the first Christmas party we were datin' for." He pointed out the picture. "Those there are ticket stubs from the first movie we went to see."

"You kept them?"

Danny nodded. "If you turn over the page there, you've got a few pictures of... well, I'll let you look for yourself."

She turned the page as he'd asked and blinked back tears. There weren't as many pictures on this double page spread, and most of them were grainy and candid; but they still meant the world to her. "These are... God, these are like nearly ten years old. These are when came to Montana, aren't they?"

He smiled. "Do you know how hard they were to find?"

"Where did you find them? Didn't I take them on my iPhone?"

"Yup, and you've had about fifty phones since then." He grumbled. "I ended up finding them on your old work computer... I had Adam searching the lab for it to see who had it, and then he had to extract the files off after they'd been deleted. Poor guy."

"Danny," Lindsay shook her head as she turned to face her husband and daughter. "This is amazing. I can't believe you've done all this."

"We wanted to!" Lucy cried. "We love you Mommy, and Daddy wanted to do something super special."

"Yeah Daddy did, but this was actually Lucy's idea, wasn't it?" he tickled her sides. "Lu here came up with a scrapbook of pictures and it kind of went from there."

"It's amazing Lucy." Lindsay whispered as she leant across and pressed a kiss to her daughter's rosy lips. "Mommy's so lucky to have a little girl as special as you."

"Daddy did all the sticking though." Lucy nodded as she wrapped her little arms around her father's neck.

"He did?" Lindsay blinked, "Well, I better thank him too then, hadn't I?"

Lucy nodded enthusiastically.

Giggling, Lindsay scooted towards her husband and locked lips with him; aware that their five-year-old was watching their embrace intently, but wanting to convey to him how much she loved and appreciated the thought that had gone into his present to her. She broke the loving kiss a few seconds later, her lips lingering on his before she pulled away and continued thumbing her way through their years together.

Every photographed memory she had with Danny was pretty much in the scrapbook and she honestly, genuinely couldn't believe that he'd managed to gather so many photographs in just a month's time. He'd covered everything. Every important memory and event was represented by photographic evidence in her scrapbook. As she made her way through the book, she laughed at the various candid and very unflattering photographs of her heavily pregnant with their daughter; she sighed lovingly as her eyes soaked in the photographs taken directly after they got married. She swiped away tears of pride as she scanned over the very first pictures they'd taken of Lucy. She shook her head as she saw that Danny had included their silly pictures of her stomach as she gradually lost her baby weight over the months after Lucy's birth. She sighed heavily as she quickly flicked over the pages that included their first family vacation together; knowing exactly how that day had ended. She then turned the page and realised why the book had been bursting as it had been. The Combat Cross that she'd been given for her bravery and courage that fateful night was right there, staring up at her. She closed her eyes as she desperately tried to fight the tears that she felt barraging her. She could still hear Lucy's toddler cries as if they were yesterday. She could still feel her heart in her chest, thumping wildly at the prospect of shooting Shane Casey when he was so close to her daughter. She could still feel the fury of _that_ lunatic being so close to her daughter. She could feel the fear of potentially losing Danny, losing Lucy... losing everything.

"That's so pretty, Mommy."

Lindsay opened her eyes and glanced up from where she'd been staring at the medal, protected in a plastic sleeve. "You think so, baby?" she swallowed the lump in her throat as she blinked away her tears.

The five-year-old nodded enthusiastically. "Daddy told me you gotted that for bein' a hero."

"He did, did he?" She sighed heavily.

"I sure did because Mommy saved us, didn't she, Luce?" He said cheerily; holding Lindsay's determined gaze. "And that medal just reminds us how much we appreciate her, right?"

"Yep!" Lucy nodded. "Plus, it's green."

"And do we like green this week?" Danny smirked down at his daughter, to which she nodded enthusiastically in response.

"I figured." Danny smirked.

"You just keep forcing this thing onto me." Lindsay shook her head with a faint smile on her face. "Go on, you can tell me you told me so. You told me she'd love it when she got older. I know it's killin' you so just go ahead and say it..."

"I'm not sayin' I told you so," he said softly, placing his hand underneath her chin and making her tilt her head so that she was looking at him. "I just wanted it in there because it's a part of our family. It's a part of who we are. It's a part of who you are. You were our hero that night, Linds; without you, there'd be no us. So as much as you hate that medal, it represents so much more than what you think it does. It attests to what we've been through as a family. We're stronger because of that."

Lindsay soaked in Danny's words as her fingers extracted the medal from it's plastic wallet. Because of the lack of interaction; the medal was still very much in the same, pristine condition in which she'd received it. Danny had placed it in a box the same day she'd received it years ago now and he'd done well in hiding the item in and amongst their belongings. When they'd moved to their house out of the city it had fallen victim to their move and gotten lost among the boxes and if Lindsay was completely honest, she'd forgotten all about it. Until now at least.

"If you don't want it in there, I can always take it back and put it back where I've been keeping it." He said softly in her ear, lowering his voice so that Lucy's little ears didn't pick up on the conversation.

"No," Lindsay whispered, placing the medal back in the plastic wallet and ran her fingertips over the ridges. "It's a part of who we are, right?"

Both Lucy and Danny nodded.

"And this is a scrapbook all about us and our family, right?"

Once again, Lucy and Danny both nodded.

"Well this is where it belongs then." Lindsay smiled. She then shuffled closer to Danny as Lucy shuffled on his lap so that she could get a better look of the scrapbook that she'd had a hand in creating. As Lindsay turned each page, the Messers were faced with an ocean of emotions as they reminisced over their shared memories. Quickly, Lucy grew bored and managed to wiggle herself out of Danny's grasp and busied herself with resuming her act of perfecting the handstand. Lindsay seized Lucy's absence as an opportunity to shuffle herself onto Danny's lap and both Lindsay and Danny let out a simultaneous contented sigh as they silently continued to look through Lindsay's scrapbook. They'd experienced some really high highs together, and faced some really low lows... but when all was said and done, Lindsay found herself looking up at her husband and she found herself content in the fact that they'd built one hell of a home together.

"Thank you so much for this," she whispered into his crease of his neck. "I love it, and I love you."

"I love you too, Montana." He returned the whisper. "So, here's to another sixty years, okay? You and me; growin' old together - how does that sound?"

"It sounds perfect."

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><p><strong>There we go, just a cutesy little story there for you guys. Hope you enjoyed it. Thoughts are, as ever, hugely - hugely appreciated. Let me know what you thought. Thanks for reading :) <strong>


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